28162, dry, OXY USA,
Evelyn Stroh 4-20-17H-143-96, Fayette, from the sundry form received
August 14, 2014: "The surface hole was drilled, cased, and cemented on
6/5/14 using a spudder rig. A suspension of drilling was approved for
this well and the other two wells on this pad. Propose to plug and
abandon the surface hole and reenter at a later date. .... cement ...
Shut in well head equipment. There are other wells on this pad and the
location will not be reclaimed. Secure well head with a blind flange."

24705,828, OXY USA, Stag 1-35-23H-142-96, Russian Creek, t5/13; cum 14K 6/13;-- here's another OXY USA well that is now back on confidential after showing an IP at the daily activity report; previously reported, I believe;

June 27, 2013:

22544, 56, OXY USA, Kary 2-24-13H-144-97, Cabernet, t2/13; cum -- (and the initial production looks atrocious; the Cabernet was a great field for Anschutz; I could understand poor numbers for the Manning, but not the Cabernet

Compare these three wells; they all reported the same day, March 11, 2013; and all from the same oil field in the Bakken. MRO's production was almost double that of OXY despite two months production for MRO vs four months production for OXY; the CLR well had not even produced a full month and was nearly half of OXY's four-month production:

Bruce, happy holidays. I haven't been following the blog as closely as
I usually do, the last 2 months or so. So maybe this is not news to you. But when I was reading last night I saw your post about OXY and their
slow activity as of late.

OXY is selling. We're already seeing a lot
of their upper management move out of the field. Conoco is what I am
being told is the buyer. Which is what would be in line (if I remember
right) with what they said here not to long ago about focusing on
domestic plays.

You probably already new all this, but if not, I knew
you would be interested.

December 12, 2013: unsolicited e-mail from a reader --

I am a land owner/mineral
owner in Dunn county. I have been hearing for some time that OXY has
sold out some, most or all of their working interests in North Dakota.
It's starting to look like these rumors might actually be true, OXY
hasn't been issued any new drilling permits recently and they are trying
do complete a great deal of wells by years end. Recently they have been
modifying certain valves at the well sites in a way that is very
similar to the way Marthon prefers operations to be set up. Have you
heard anything about the sale of OXY?

22997,TA, OXY USA, Thunderbird 1-15-22H-141-94, wildcat, as far south in Dunn County as you can get; about two miles south of Murphy
Creek; south end of Murphy Creek with minimal activity; 15-141-94 with
no activity except for this one OXY USA well; temporary abandoned while
OXY decides what to do with it; Three Forks target; it looks like it was
going to be a long lateral (drilled to depth, it appears) and to be
fracked with 21 stages; no geologist's report at NDIC yet. This well is
on the southeast fringe of the Bakken; Three Forks is more likely to be
found here.

20750, 53, OXY USA, Katie Heiser 1-12-1H-142-95, Murphy Creek, t8/12; cum 6K 7/13; no typo -- 2,000 bbls after four months of production; it is not unusual to produce 2,000 bbls in 10 days in the Bakken in the early months of production;

22351,394, OXY USA, Louie Pavlicek 1-28-33H-142-97, Willmen, t7/12; cum 37K 6/14; on a NG pipeline; this is almost half a year of production in a pretty good area of North Dakota (not great, but not bad); operators are easily hitting 50,000 bbls the first six months of production, and here, again, an OXY well with 15K after 5 months;

22070,720, OXY USA, Mildred Sadowsky 1-11-14H-142-97, Willmen, t7/12; cum 92K 6/14; 38,000 bbls in five months is not particularly remarkable; it looks like they did some work on the well in November, 2012, (install a pump?), and in December, 2012, back up to 5.6K/month

18427, 876, OXY USA/Anschutz, Matthew Schmidt 1-35-2H-143-97; s2/10; t5/10; AL; cum 161K 6/14;
almost no production since 11/11; problems with the well; I looked at
the well file very, very quickly; it appears a pump was put on the well
in May, 2011; and the well was fracked in November/December, 2011; ever
since the pump/fracking, the well has not been good;

18644, 1,148, OXY USA/Anschutz, State 1-25-36H-144-97X; Bakken, Cabernet, s1/10; t4/10; AL as of 7/13;
cum 328K 6/14; I read the well file; it appears there have been two
pumps put on this well; now the status of the well is reported as IA,
although there was production and runs in August 2012; it almost looks
like OXY worked on these two wells about the same time; not good
results? [Update: November 22, 2012: well is now "A."]

22544, IA/TA-->DRL-->56, OXY USA, Kary 2-24-13H-144-97 ST, Cabernet; this is the second lateral, a re-entry; a second attempt to get a production liner in; failed. [In September it was "TA"; now, in November, 2012, it is listed as "DRL."]; t2/13; cum 1K 7/13;

September 17, 2012:

21816, 188, OXY USA, State Joe Loh 1-20-17H-143-98, Little Knife, t3/12; cum 30K 6/14; the Little Knife is a nice field; an Anschutz well in this field had an IP of 1,556 in 2010;

22369, 304, OXY USA, State Jablonsky B 1-36-25H-142-95, Murphy Creek; t51/12; cum K 6/14; this is an interesting well -- it came off confidential for a few weeks, and OXY asked to temporarily abandon the well; and to come back later; and then it was put back on confidential list (elsewhere I was told this does not happen by the self-identified Bakken expert)

May 14, 2012: OXY USA surprises everyone with a great well based on IP:

20278, 936, OXY, David Kovash 1-12-13H-142-96; Manning field; t11/11; cum 125K 6/14; Manning field is in southeast McKenzie County; Fayette is on the north border; Murphy Creek is on the east; both of those fields are good fields;

May 8, 2012: OXY USA manages to report another lousy well, based on IP:

Link here for a Seeking Alpha article on OXY immediately following announcement of its acquisition of 180,000 continuous acres in Dunn County, North Dakota, December, 2010.

There's an interesting comment in the article:

You can interpret Oxy's stepping out into a more crowded shale play as a sign that the company is very confident in the technical knowledge it has developed in its California plays....

Everything I've read suggests a) the Bakken is very different "animal" than other plays; and, b) that the technology that has worked in the Bakken was developed and refined in Montana and North Dakota.

I will be curious to see what kind of wells OXY can deliver in the Bakken. My hunch is it will be several months before we see an OXY permit, and we won't know until next summer how OXY does in the Bakken. They will be competing for frac crews as the neighborhood newcome, but they will be able to pay top dollar for frac crews. A company that size may have its own dedicated frac crews. Look for OXY to set up "regional Bakken headquarters" somewhere in North Dakota.